Previous | Table of Contents | Next
Grimmy’s head perked up, and he raised an eyebrow. Leila glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, not bothering to lift her head off of her paws. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Did your mom lose to mine?”
“I’m not sure,” Grimmy said and tilted his head, pointing his ear towards the room’s exit. “They should be evenly matched when they’re playfighting; their brawl shouldn’t end so soon.” After listening for a bit longer, Grimmy shrugged and put his head down. “With your mom’s personality, I wouldn’t be surprised if she escalated the fight.”
Leila pointed her ear towards the exit. She listened for a bit before exhaling through her nostrils. “I can’t hear anything.”
“They must’ve gone outside to continue,” Grimmy said and closed his eyes. “My mom can’t use her full strength at home.”
“Really?” Leila asked and blinked at Grimmy. “Why’s that?”
Grimmy snorted. “Her spells are too big,” he said. “If she fights for real, she’ll break the house.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Leila said. “Having a house is quite inconvenient, isn’t it? At least, in the valley, we don’t have to worry about breaking too much if we summon a few meteors.”
“There’s benefits to both houses and valleys,” Grimmy said. He glanced at Leila and nuzzled her neck with his cheek. “Of course, the best place to be is with you.”
Leila chuckled and extended her wing, draping it over Grimmy’s body. She scootched over, pressing her side against his. “Should we lock the door?”
There was a loud thumping sound, and the wall rumbled. The entrance to the dragons’ room slid open, revealing Gren’s face. She glared at Grimmy. “What in the world is Vur? He’s abnormal. Have you considered sealing him in the tower?”
Leila retracted her wing, and Grimmy sat up. He stared at his mom with an odd expression. “Did you wake him up during your fight with Kondra?”
Gren didn’t respond.
“Did he beat you?” Grimmy asked and stood on his hindlegs to get a better view at Gren’s wounds. “I thought I felt you summoning something.”
Gren snarled. “Quit staring.” She snorted and shook her head. “You had a hand in raising Vur, right? Sera wouldn’t have taught him the cursed dragons’ code. Did you train him with the intention of clearing the evil-sealing tower?”
“Nope,” Grimmy said and shook his head. “Sera took Vur in during a fit of rage because her egg was stolen. He became a lot stronger than I thought he would, so I did a few things to his soul, but I was just messing around. If you want him to clear up some of the sealed evils, you can tell Tafel that exploring the tower will be a fun adventure.”
“What’s the evil-sealing tower?” Leila asked.
“Isn’t the name self-explanatory?” Grimmy asked in return. “It’s the place where cursed dragons seal beings that disrupt the balance of the world.”
Leila furrowed her brow. “How come I’ve never heard about it before?”
“Well, the tower hasn’t been put into use for a very long time,” Grimmy said. “The world isn’t broken right now because everything that can break the world has already been sealed. Do you remember when we first met?”
Leila blinked. “Yes.”
“That thing was basically a sealed evil.”
“Wait, how did the two of you meet?” Gren asked. “You never told me.”
“Do you remember the octopus that was sealed in that big canyon?” Grimmy asked.
“Was sealed?” Gren asked. Her eyes narrowed. “Isn’t it still sealed? Don’t tell me you released the Star Plucker.”
Grimmy coughed. “Alright,” he said and shrugged. Then, he lay back down.
Gren stared at Grimmy, but it was clear her son wasn’t going to say anything else. “What do you mean by doing this?”
“You didn’t want me to tell you I released it,” Grimmy said. “So, I’m not going to tell you how Leila and I met.”
Gren resisted the urge to slap her son. She took in a deep breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. “Why did you release the Star Plucker?”
“I was just checking the canyon out, you know, normal things,” Grimmy said and waved his hand dismissively. He chuckled and scratched his head. “And while I was there, I accidentally dropped something important, and it fell into the seal. Of course, I needed to retrieve my important item, so I unsealed the canyon, retrieved my item, and fought the octopus.”
Gren glared at Grimmy. “Go on.”
“It was a tough fight, and I was losing, but luckily, Leila showed up and helped me kill it.” Grimmy chuckled and nuzzled Leila’s cheek with his, causing Gren’s expression to darken.
“What item could’ve been so important that you unsealed an ancient evil?” Gren asked. “Did you have a backup plan in case Leila didn’t come by to rescue you? How completely irresponsible of you; I raised you better than that.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Grimmy said and rolled his eyes. “I forgot what I dropped, but it was pretty important to me at the time. Probably. As for the rest?” He snorted. “Weren’t you always the ends justify the means type of dragon? Who cares about the little details? I got a mate, and there’s one less sealed place in the world.”
Gren slapped her tail against the ground. She stared at Grimmy, but she couldn’t find any words to refute what Grimmy had said. After thinking for a bit, she narrowed her eyes. “Was the Star Plucker the only evil you unsealed?”
“How irresponsible do you think I am?” Grimmy asked and turned his head to the side. “I told you, I only unsealed the canyon because I dropped something in it.”
Gren snorted. “And did you happen to drop things in other sealed locations?”
“No,” Grimmy said. “But my tail did accidentally brush against the Island Eater’s seal and woke it up.”
Leila blinked. “Was that the name of the delicious giant lobster we ate?”
Grimmy grinned. “It was delicious, wasn’t it?”
“Unbelievable,” Gren said and shook her head. “Did the two of you eat the Star Plucker as well?”
Leila glanced at Gren before turning her head towards Grimmy. “Should we not have?”